Prisoner escape not 'an inside job,' Public Safety director says

Ted Sakai, Public Safety Director spoke to the the media on Wednesday outside of the Circuit Court building following the escape of Teddy Munet. (Star-Advertiser archive)

State Public Safety Director Ted Sakai said today he has seen nothing to indicate murder suspect Teddy Munet received help from officials when he escaped from a loading bay at state Circuit Court downtown last Wednesday.

“I have serious doubts it was an inside job. ... I believe it was an escape of opportunity,” Sakai said at a news conference.

Sakai said Munet and seven others on the van did not have leg iron shackles, in violation of procedures that call for prisoners to be placed in leg irons during transport to and from court.

Munet ran away while getting out of a van at an exterior loading bay, instead of in an enclosed area inside the Circuit Court building.

Sakai said Munet still had his waist chains when caught, although he had managed to slip off his handcuffs. Munet, 29, was captured by police on Wai­manu Street, about eight blocks away from the courthouse, a little more than 11 hours after his escape.

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alliewrote:

It was a total embarrassment for the state. What steps are being taken to prevent this outrage from happening again. It does appear to be an inside job as the mistakes are so obvious. What kind of training are the guards receiving?

on February 26,2013 | 01:51PM

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cunfuzd4wrote:

ALL-LIE clueless as ever. All escapes are an embarrassment http://www.minotdailynews.com/page/content.detail/id/571332.html

on February 26,2013 | 02:44PM

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poidragonwrote:

your right, Allie! We need to take a long hard look at just who our state corrections administtration is hiring for the job of prison gaurds! It's who you know and who you do, in getting a job at our correctional facilities; all one needs to do is take a look at our police force and it's lack of a physical regimen to keep them fit, and what is worse, the gaurds at our prisons are just as bad! There are more overweight and porky officers on the beat and in our prisons!

on February 26,2013 | 03:24PM

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cunfuzd4wrote:

so poi, what action are YOU going to take to work towards resolving the root of the problem?

on February 26,2013 | 05:05PM

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FLIPTOP2wrote:

Seems someone(s) should be fired - especially since this is at least the 2nd time it's happened within months.

on February 26,2013 | 03:09PM

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tiki886wrote:

Fired? The UNION will not allow the firing of stoopid, overweight, incompetent, out of shape, overpaid, lazy, government union workers!!!!! Their bosses will probably give them a promotion and a pay increase!!!!!!!!

on February 26,2013 | 03:31PM

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seriouswrote:

Correct, they will be put on administrative leave with pay for ten years or until retirement. Whatever happened to the Captain who had his Cub Scout troop over and had a number of policemen on overtime? Over a year?

on February 26,2013 | 04:00PM

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inversewrote:

Prisoners like Munet see easy opportunities to escape when they realize OCCC guards are too lazy to put leg irons on all of them nor require them to wear bright orange jumpsuits. Combine that with the fact they see OCCC guards watching over them are morbidly obese and could not run more than 10 feet without getting seriously winded or possibly experience a heart attack.

on February 26,2013 | 03:18PM

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poidragonwrote:

Carelessness, laxness and stupidity are the major factors leading up to the prisoner escape attempt at the coiurthouse, to top it all off, the guards are out of shape and were not able to run down the escaping prisoner! The State of Hawaii is already the laughing stock of the United States, this only proves how right they are to laugh at us, and the continuing idiocy being allowed to grow by our state elected officials! Someone should have lost their jobs over this debacle, but like everything else, it is swept under the carpet and forgotten!

on February 26,2013 | 03:18PM

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cunfuzd4wrote:

Every time something like this happens there's a lot of this kind of talk but never any follow up. So have you ever involved yourself in resolving the condition that allows only slightly more than 20% of employed people to dominate the other 78-80% This is not just gong on here, it occurs across the country and those that allow it to happen very rarely have cause to worry about action (administrative or criminal) being taken against them.

on February 26,2013 | 04:41PM

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primo1wrote:

The fact that he DIDN'T have help and still managed to escape so easily is what bothers me.

on February 26,2013 | 03:36PM

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cunfuzd4wrote:

So...the question that needs to be asked is what each one in this thread proposes to do in order to remedy the problem or is posing in the SA the limit of everyone's involvement?

on February 26,2013 | 05:11PM

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cunfuzd4wrote:

don't have to answer here...just do something everyday. Or you can sit around, whine and post to the SA and be as useless as ALL-LIE

on February 26,2013 | 05:16PM

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lee1957wrote:

Through act or omission, it was an inside job boss.

on February 26,2013 | 06:01PM

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bkawanowrote:

Maybe Ted Sakai should take the blame, he's the public safety director. There's been a few escapes lately.